Mentzelia mollis |
Mentzelia veatchiana |
|
---|---|---|
smooth blazingstar, smooth stick-leaf, soft blazingstar |
Veatch's blazing star, white-stem blazingstar, white-stem stick-leaf |
|
Habit | Plants candelabra-form, 3–15(–20) cm. | Plants candelabra-form, (5–)20–50 cm. |
Basal leaves | not persisting. |
persisting; petiole present or absent; blade linear-lanceolate, margins deeply to shallowly lobed. |
Cauline leaves | petiole present (proximal leaves), absent (distal leaves); blade lanceolate to linear (proximal leaves), ovate to lanceolate (distal leaves), to 6 cm, margins dentate or entire (proximal leaves), entire (distal leaves). |
petiole absent; blade ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, to 17 cm, margins usually deeply lobed to dentate, rarely entire. |
Bracts | green, ovate to elliptic, 5–8.5 × 2–5 mm, width 2/5–3/5 length, not concealing capsule, margins entire. |
usually green with prominent white base usually conspicuously extending outwards from midvein, rarely green, usually ovate, rarely lanceolate, 3.3–6.2 × 1.5–3.2 mm, width 1/4–7/8 length, not concealing capsule, margins usually 3–7-lobed, rarely entire. |
Flowers | sepals 3–5.5 mm; petals yellow to orange proximally, yellow distally, 8–12 mm, apex rounded; stamens 20+, 3–8 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed; styles 7–9 mm. |
sepals 2–5 mm; petals red to orange proximally, orange to yellow distally, 4–7(–10) mm, apex retuse; stamens 20+, 3–7 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed; styles (3–)3.5–6 mm. |
Capsules | cylindric or clavate, 5–22 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 45° at maturity, often prominently longitudinally ribbed. |
clavate, 8–28 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 70° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
Seeds | 15–25, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, dark-mottled, irregularly polygonal, surface smooth to minutely tessellate under 10x magnification; recurved flap over hilum absent; seed coat cell outer periclinal wall flat to slightly convex. |
15–35, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, dark-mottled, usually irregularly polygonal, occasionally triangular prisms proximal to mid fruit, surface tuberculate under 10x magnification; recurved flap over hilum absent; seed coat cell outer periclinal wall domed, domes on seed edges more than or equal to 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity. |
2n | = 36. |
= 54. |
Mentzelia mollis |
Mentzelia veatchiana |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jul. | Flowering Mar–Jun. |
Habitat | Barren, sodic or calcic clay slopes and bluffs derived from volcanic ash. | Loamy to sandy soils, grasslands, desert scrub, oak-pine woodlands. |
Elevation | 800–1500 m. (2600–4900 ft.) | 200–2500 m. (700–8200 ft.) |
Distribution |
ID; NV; OR
|
AZ; CA; NV; OR
|
Discussion | Mentzelia mollis is narrowly distributed in eastern Malheur County, Oregon, and western Owyhee County, Idaho, and disjunctly in the Black Rock Range of Humboldt County, Nevada. Recent phylogenetic studies support treatment of these disjunct populations as a single species (J. M. Brokaw and L. Hufford 2010b). In both ranges, M. mollis is predominantly limited to barren soils with high salinity. Mentzelia mollis is listed as endangered by the Oregon Department of Agriculture and is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Mentzelia veatchiana is the most common and widely distributed hexaploid species in sect. Trachyphytum. It exhibits considerable morphological variation and can be difficult to distinguish from M. montana in northern California. Like the larger-flowered M. pectinata, M. veatchiana has interfertile populations with petal colors ranging from orange to yellow (J. E. Zavortink 1966). When bearing orange petals, M. veatchiana is easily distinguished from other species. Reports of M. veatchiana from Utah are based on specimens treated here as M. montana. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 539. | FNA vol. 12, p. 543. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. albicaulis var. veatchiana | |
Name authority | M. Peck: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 183. (1945) | Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 99, fig. 28. (1863) |
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